I am currently building a frost bite druid and I have some questions about that.

1. I know merc freeze aura from act 3 merc can help my druid to reduce cold resistance of monsters. I want to try act 1 'physical' merc instead of act 3 'merc freeze' merc and I am planning to make Ice crossbow runeword for her. Then will her holy freeze aura reduce monsters' cold resistance for both of me and her or just for act1 merc herself? It'd be a stupid question but I'd just like to comfirm whether these 2 auras are exactly with the same function.

2. I am still hesitating what gem I should add into my weapon. Some people recommanded sapphire and some said amethyst. Could you guys give me some suggestions?

1) The HolyFreeze from "Ice" is just the Paladin's aura, so yes it lowers enemy resistances for everyone. It isn't passive pierce like -%Res from gear. Good call on not going A3 merc. Since you're a mostly ice-damage build, you really need a 2nd element (3 if you can). Last I saw, the Holy Auras don't break many immunities in Hell, but maybe Ice is easier than Fire.

2) Getting more -%Res or faster attack really just depends on your current setup. That's probably why you're getting mixed answers. 2.1) If the IAS made your attacks go from 4 frames to 3 frames, then that's 6 attacks to 8 ( i.e. +33% damage), from 3 frames to 2 frames is 8 attacks to 12 (+50% dmg). I suppose going for that faster attack is the better way to go.2.2) If you don't have a lot of -%Res in gear, and you're facing a 99% immune monster (a freshly broken immunity), then bring it down from 99 to 87% is sort of a buff of 1200%. However, assuming you've already got about -30%Res, then another 10% is just a 33% dmg buff (i.e. you'd be just as well to get the 3 frame attack). If you've already capped your attack speed, then -%Res is surely the better way to go, since AttackRating can be found from other sources (and has diminishing returns).

Thank you for replying Brevan. As you've said before I think I need to calculate my ultimate attack speed with or without amethysts to see which I should put inside.

I forgot to ask 1 more question: My druid doesn't have any +replenish life or prayer aura item, but his life can be recovered without doing anything. I found it out when my druid was standing next to my friend's pally outside the town. I was sure my friend at the moment didn't have prayer aura items and he was switching on vigor aura. Both of us were using act1 merc who had no prayer items equipped and I had my oak with me. I really don't know what made that.

WereBear and WereWolf both have life regen. It's not much (something like 2 life a second), but a nice touch in low levels. I recall the two shapes having a different regen rate, but I forget which was the higher one.

A tip for regenerating as a ShapeShifter is to remove yourself from the battle for a sec, unshift, and drink a red potion. Your HP fills pretty fast if youre life is low, and when you switch back to wereform you'll keep your undamaged bulb. This way a red potion can heal a werewolf a full bulb when you've got the time to stay out of the fight and shapeshift.

A tip for regenerating as a ShapeShifter is to remove yourself from the battle for a sec, unshift, and drink a red potion. Your HP fills pretty fast if youre life is low, and when you switch back to wereform you'll keep your undamaged bulb. This way a red potion can heal a werewolf a full bulb when you've got the time to stay out of the fight and shapeshift.

This is one of the main problems I face especially during killing bosses. My druid is level 46 and he has over 5k HP with help of oak. He gets healed very slowly even with super healing potions. I will try what you said later. Thanks for your tip.

You can get plenty cold pierce from other sources while keeping your attack speed as high as possible.

I am not a rich man. The best weapon I have for my druid is just Aldur's weapon and I also found I only have snowclash and waterwalk on mule to lower monsters' cold resistance. I also checked that if I add 4 uber amethysts inside the weapon, my attack speed will reach 3 frame. It's pretty fast but maybe only have -20 enemy resistance that seems to be too little...

Unless you're constantly facing freshly-broken immunities, then -20%Res will be fine. In the example of a 99%Res monster, you'll still be doing 21% of your base damage (which is pretty significant given your fast attack speed). Getting double the pierce will double your damage in that situation only. Outside of that example, namely in the range PureRage pointed out (0 to 50% resistant monsters), the -%Res bonus is nice but not godly (becoming comparable with +%Dmg).

Don't worry about not getting Runemaster. PureRage only used that example as the ideal weapon that would allow you to deal nice big hits at a slower speed (allowing your more control in a fight, so you have the chance to flee and heal). I'm sure you'll come across suitable alternatives (something with lots of -%Res or sockets, a 6-socketed white item would be a stunningly poor but suitable alternative).

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